Heartland Tech Weekly: How can Silicon Valley best assist other startup communities?

In a recent video interview with CNBC (embedded below) LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman says that one thing he would like to see more of in Silicon Valley is people assisting startup communities in other parts of the country.

“We want more areas in the U.S. and the world to be entrepreneurial hot houses where they’re growing lots of interesting, entrepreneurial companies,” Hoffman told CNBC. “There are people in Silicon Valley doing that, I just want more of them.”

The idea of bridging the gap between Silicon Valley and the rest of the country is something we talk about a lot here in the Heartland Tech section. And I’ve seen some progress on that front in the past year — from the “Comeback Cities” tour to a notable array of Silicon Valley LPs investing in last year’s “Rise of the Rest” seed fund.

But I think it’s time to move the conversation from “How do we get more people in Silicon Valley to work with startup communities in other parts of the country?” to “What kind of assistance do we need from Silicon Valley?” I worry that Silicon Valley investors will think they’ve done enough for the Heartland if they simply fly in to judge a few pitch competitions, or write a few angel checks.

How do you think Silicon Valley folks can best assist startup communities in the Heartland, besides opening up their checkbook? If you have any thoughts, please send them to me via email.

As always, thanks for reading,

Anna Hensel
Heartland Tech Reporter

Featured Video

Check out this video from CNBC, “How Reid Hoffman would change Silicon Valley if he had a magic wand”

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